That Mysterious Person
by EvilKateh
Summary: Syaoran has been away for 5 long years, he and Sakura have lost contact to the point that they are almost strangers. But now he needs her help convincing his mother that they are a couple, SakuxSyao with a little humour! More info in the first chapter! xx
1. Chapter 1: Summary

**That Mysterious Person**

**Disclaimer: I do not own CCS or any of its characters, of course!**

**Warning: Rated T for possible use of swearing.**

Chapter 1: Summary

Syaoran Li has been away for all together 5 long years, and in that time he and Sakura have grown apart to the point that they are almost strangers. But now Syaoran needs Sakura's help in convincing his mother that he has found a potential wife but she would rather keep her options open. And so they form a plan, acting as a couple and allow their family and friends to believe they are committed, but secretly they both know that it is all a lie.

Can they keep their feelings in check to know when they are acting and when they are genuinely falling for each other?

A Sakura x Syaoran fanfic, set 5 years after the events in the manga with all the old characters returning!

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><p><strong>Hey thanks for reading!<br>After reading the first chapter if you get a chance please R&R!  
><strong>

**EvilKateh**


	2. Chapter 2: Returning To Tomeda

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of CCS; it belongs to the lovely group CLAMP!**

**Returning To Tomeda**

It had been many years since he had been able to hang out with that one girl, and nowadays, he thought nothing of it. People drift apart every day; he wasn't going to act bitter, there was nothing he or she could have done to prevent it. Although even as he was thinking this, Syaoran kicked a plastic bottle on the road slightly harder than he might normally have done. As he watched it fly over to the other side of the road, he dug his hands into his pockets and slouched back into his house.

Usually when people describe Syaoran, they would say he is hard working, a good friend and kind of gullible. He didn't feel like that this evening though, other than the gullible thing, he didn't know people said that about him, and believed them when they told him they didn't. No, instead today he felt lethargic, rude and very gullible. He knew the reason, that one girl. That one mysterious, cheerful, frustrating and fantastic girl.

It had only started a couple of months ago but it hurt his head so much and was so complicated, it felt like it had been going on for years. When Syaoran had first arrived in Tomeda it was for strange reasons, he was there to collect the Clow Cards. A pack of magical cards, each with their own power to control; he was to become the Master of the Clow. However, a ten year old girl named Sakura Kinomoto beat him to it. Not that it mattered in the end, she was destined for it, and at the time they felt destined for each other. But complications arose; Syaoran had to return to Hong Kong. And although when he came back to Japan to be with Sakura, it ended up not being for long. He travelled around the world for over 3 years; it was, "important for his magical learning" his mother told him. And Syaoran was grateful for the chance, but there was a downside. It was with a heavy heart that Syaoran realised there was no way he could keep in contact with Sakura. Not with the fact that he was always on the move, so they couldn't write to each other, and it was hardly fair to ask her to pay for the long distance phone bills. He explained this too her, when she told him she didn't care about the bills they fought, and then they lost touch.

When Syaoran finally returned to Tomeda, it was in the middle of the 1st year of High School, and everyone at Tomeda high already knew each other. However, Syaoran managed to fit in ok. He made friends with people he knew from Tomeda Elementary and new people as well, but he rarely saw Sakura. She was popular amongst both the boys and the girls, so she was always with them. And other than that she was busy, she did athletics and cheerleading and drama club; and on top of that (although nobody knew) she had to look after the newly named Sakura Cards. Syaoran was equally busy, what with friends, football, magical and physical studies it was unsurprising that they had little time to make small talk.

In fact the only times that they had been able to talk together, whether it be in hallways or the canteen, it had been difficult and awkward. Syaoran had wanted to tell her all about his travels, about his family and about how he still had kept his feelings for her despite their distance. But there were always people around, and Syaoran decidedly thought that he didn't want to express so many personal facts with half her friends listening in. Not only that, he was also unsure of how to play it, he had seen Sakura hanging around school with lots of different boys and he didn't even know whether she had a boyfriend or not; and if she did have one it would be pretty unlikely for her to drop everything the moment he told her that he still liked her. He didn't know if she even still liked him anymore! He decided one day to do something about it; he would go to her house and tell her right there and then. Only problem facing him was his nerve, Syaoran was no coward. He wouldn't ever turn away from a fight if it meant the safety of his family or friends, his magical powers were astonishing and he could summon fire, wind, water or lighting within the blink of an eye. But confessing to Sakura was a whole different matter; he learnt it the hard way 5 years ago when he tried to confess his feelings the first time. Nonetheless he went to her house and rang the doorbell, she opened the door and Syaoran gaped. She was wonderfully pretty and she smiled as she realised who it was, and he could sense Sakura's staggering but familiar magical power. It had increased tenfold since Eriol left, but she still smiled warmly and asked him inside. He didn't move though, he knew that it was now or never, so stammering and haltingly he got out the words he had been dying to tell her since he had arrived back in Tomeda, "Um… I… I like you!"

She looked shocked, and somewhat sad. She explained to him that since he had left she had pretty much given up hope of them ever being together, and so she had lost her feelings for him. Three years was a very long time to not even speak to someone. "Maybe it will change one day," she tried to console him with, "I'm sorry Li-san."

The use of the formal suffix made it clear, they weren't friends and their lack of contact probably meant that they never would be again.

Although that didn't mean she was rude to him, she was her perfectly lovely cheerful self like always. But that almost made it all the harder, if he couldn't be with her, he at least would have liked to be friends with her. And they tried to be, but it was still awkward, especially now. They moved in different social circles so they rarely accidentally met, and once again Syaoran found himself drifting out of Sakura's life, this time probably for good.

When he awoke from his day dreaming, being lost in memories, he was somewhat surprised to find himself standing at his bedroom door, his hand on the doorknob. It was unusual that he managed to get this far, typically he would be engulfed by one of the many people in his house and one of them would want something from him, whether it be doing his homework, playing sports in the garden or training. He loved his family dearly but he had to admit it got tiring being continually on-the-go when he really just wanted to be in his room reading a book or relaxing watching crap TV. His house was rather large by any normal person's standards, but that was just because of the sheer volume of people staying there, he lived with his mother, his four sisters Fanren, Fuutie, Feimei and Shiefa, his cousin Meiling, and his guardian and friend Wei. His mother and sisters used to live in Hong Kong but they relocated when his mother decided that Syaoran belonged in Japan and his family should be with him.

He nearly made it inside when he heard his name being called from the floor below, 'I knew it was too good to be to true," he thought shaking his head.

I turned out to be his mother who was doing the calling, she had seated herself at the head of the dinner table, Wei was also there looking unusually solemn. "What's wrong?" asked Syaoran sitting down in his usual spot.

"Syaoran you are in your second year of high school now, you're coming up to your 17th birthday." She said this in her usual clear graceful but serious voice, "I think it's time you start thinking about your future within the Li clan."

Wei nodded gravely and after this Syaoran looked at his mother questioningly, not understanding what she meant.

"What I mean is, it is coming to the time where you have to think about finding your self a partner-" Syaoran could feel his cheeks flushing slightly, "- and to think about even producing an heir for the Li family."

If his cheeks were flushing before hand they were certainly burning now. "Produce an heir? Mother I'm not even 17 yet! I-"

He quelled under his mothers stare, he also realised that in the heat of the moment he had stood up and knocked back his chair, having retrieved it he sat down again still feeling confused and angry. His mother seemed to approve of him controlling his temper, so she carried on with the same elegant air, "I know you don't want to think about it yet, but you must. Tradition dictates that the oldest male must marry a woman with magical prowess and produce at least one male in order to carry on the Li lineage."

Syaoran was almost going to lose his temper again, but Wei intervened, "Syaoran-sama, I understand your distress but it's important that you agree to this one rule, it has been written in ancient scrolls left by Clow Reed himself, that if the oldest male can not produce an heir, something terrible will happen to the one he loves whether they be magical or not."

Syaoran's face registered nothing but shock and dismay.

Wei continued kindly, "Although of course Syaoran-sama, if you do not love anyone you have nothing to worry about."

Syaoran did not soften at this instance of kindness, because he realised instantly the real reason they moved to Japan. Because right here in Tomeda was a girl who is the most efficient and simple answer to the Li family's problems. It just happens that Syaoran was in love with her as well; although he wasn't sure whether that was a good or a bad thing.

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><p><strong>Hey thanks for reading!<br>**

**I've been thinking of this fanfic for a long time and playing around with the idea and today I finally got my arse into gear and decided to write something, I think it went relatively well! xD**  
><strong>I hope people don't get angry at me for saying this, but quite often in SakuxSyao fanfics, Syaoran is protrayed as a total womanising douche. And tbh I don't remember him being like that in the manga xD so I wanted this to be from his point of view, although the focus may switch from him to Sakura depending on the chapter.<strong>  
><strong>I hope he doesn't come across that way in this! :D<strong>  
><strong>If you get some time, I would be very grateful if you could R&amp;R! (:<br>**

**EvilKateh**


	3. Chapter 3: Sakura's Morning

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own CCS, otherwise I would be the happiest person alive!**

A/N: If you feel like it, please listen to this song: /watch?v=NHmNMKyy5gA&feature=channel_video_title it has the same feeling as I've tried to convey in this chapter (hopefully!) particularly the bits with Syaoran.

**Sakura's Morning**

That morning Sakura woke up the same way she always did, yelling in surprise as her alarm clock went off just above her head. She opened her eyes up blearily and stretched. "Morning," she yawned to Kero-chan and some of the Sakura Cards who had floated out of the drawer to say hello.

She then proceeded to flump back onto the pillows, "Now, now!" Kero said disapprovingly, "you would think that you'd get better at getting up in the morning now that you're in secondary school!"

Sakura still just moaned about wanting more sleep into her pillows, Kero knew it was time to take action and pulled the bed covers off of Sakura and onto the floor where she couldn't reach them. She shivered visibly and pulled her knees up to her chest to keep the warmth in, "Sakura," Kero said, suddenly stern, "you need to get up, or you'll be in trouble when you're late for registration."

"Aw, OK." Sakura pouted and resignedly climbed out of bed and ambled to the bathroom.

Kero then winced at a noise coming from the bathroom which sounded like Sakura, in her sleep deprived state, had just tripped over the bathmat. "Honestly, with the racket you make Sakura, it's a wonder that only your brother called you a monster." Kero said to himself.

Of course he didn't mean it, he and Sakura had been through a lot in the past 5 years and their relationship was better described as best friends rather than master and servant. Indeed, Sakura barely saw Kero as a servant at all. Her magic had grown immensely since she first accidentally released the WIND card in her basement, and now she almost rivalled Clow Reed for power. Even though Yue still moans occasionally that she has a long way to go; but he always sees the cup as half empty anyway. He and Yue still find it easier, and safer, for them to go about life in their disguises even though Sakura now has enough power to maintain both of them at the same time; it's not worth letting someone find out about them or about Sakura's magic. Kero had helped Sakura through so much and had advised her on some of the toughest decisions in her life, but for some reason completely unbeknown to Kero, she still chooses to ignore him when he tells her to get up for school.

Sakura was almost on time which was a change for her, as she ran down the stairs she thought of her brother who was busy in his fourth year of university, at this moment he would be telling her about how much noise she was making, and that it would rain today because the 'monster' wasn't late for once. She smiled as she remembered how grumpy she used to get about it, after all he was only joking but it was a lot easier to take a joke now that she was a good lot taller than she was when she was ten.

Once breakfast was finished, she strapped on her skates and took off down the road, she took it slowly this morning, partly because she was on time and partly because it was so pretty. It was getting to mid-April and the cherry blossoms were just starting to fall, making everything look like it was snowing flowers. When she reached the meeting point she saw that Rei Tsuji, one of her friends from secondary school, was only just arriving on her bike. "We're both on time today Rei-chan!" Rei smiled at Sakura and they set off for school.

The two girls chatted about their friends, homework and their various hobbies. They both do cheerleading and were looking forward to practising it that afternoon.

"I hope I don't drop the baton on my head again," groaned Sakura.

Rei giggled, "I don't know how you manage to do it! You're so athletic and energetic but you just can't seem to catch it."

Sakura shook her head and grinned, Rei continued, "although I suppose you might have other things on your mind," she winked, "after all it must be pretty nice to be seeing the most popular boy in school."

Sakura looked blank, "you mean Aida-kun? What do you mean 'it's nice to see him', we see him every day in school don't we?"

Rei started laughing earnestly, "you're so funny Sakura-chan!" Sakura joined in laughing although she really didn't know what they were laughing about.

Meeting Tomoyo at the gate, Rei decided to go put her bike away and Sakura was about to go put her skates away into her locker when Tomoyo discretely nudged her in the arm, "Sakura-chan, is Li-kun looking at you?"

Sakura looked up surprised, searching until she found Syaoran near the door of the building, meeting his eyes he looked away very quickly blushing slightly, "Um… I don't know, it seemed like it."

Sakura started to make her way towards the lockers when Tomoyo whispered, "Sakura-chan," once again nodding in Li's direction.

He seemed to beckoning slightly for her to go over; she looked at Tomoyo and she smiled slightly pushing Sakura towards him. Syaoran motioned her over into the shadow of the trees, it was only April but the temperature was already starting to creep up. He seemed to swallow slightly and said, "Kinomoto-san, I need to talk to you. It's important."

Sakura nodded seriously, she could tell from his manner that what ever it was meant trouble, and trouble seemed to follow them around like Kero follows cake. "What's wrong?"

Syaoran hesitated; "It's to do with my mo-" he started when he was interrupted by the warning bell.

"Hoe!" Sakura squeaked, "lessons are about to start and I haven't even put my skates away yet, sorry Li-san I have to go!"

And with that she tore off towards the lockers, leaving Syaoran to stare after her regretfully.

During that day Sakura had various encounters with Syaoran, each time he tried to tell her what was wrong but each time he would get interrupted with any number of bizarre incidents. Most them involved Yamazaki popping up at inappropriate times to tell various and ridiculous lies, they all resolved with Chiharu pulling him away but the unfortunate outcome from all the commotion, was that everyone was watching Sakura and Syaoran's exchanges, he was too embarrassed to tell her whilst all her friends listened in, so Sakura contented herself with this, "Look, it looks like we're both going to be pretty busy right now, will you meet up with me at the penguin park later on?"

He nodded his acceptance and she smiled, "Thank you, Li-kun."

Syaoran looked up blushing slightly and nodded once again; wandering off his hands deep in his pockets.

Sakura decided to seek out her best friend before the end of school to talk about this ambiguous development, if there was one person in the world who would give the logical and well thought-out answer it was Tomoyo. "Tomoyo-chan you're still friends with Li-kun aren't you?" Sakura asked later that day.

Tomoyo smiled warmly, "yes, I often speak to him," she paused, "why? What's wrong?"

Sakura shrugged slightly, "he says me there's something important he has to tell me."

Tomoyo nodded, "was that what he was saying this morning?"

Sakura also nodded, blushing slightly, "I told him to meet me at the King Penguin."

Tomoyo smiled to herself, it had been a long time since Sakura had blushed whilst talking about Li, and it was about time too. She knew full well how much he missed Sakura, she hadn't lost contact with him and they often shared conversations. Tomoyo had become somewhat of a confident to Syaoran; something that Sakura and Syaoran had in common. "Sakura-chan, you miss Li-kun right?"

Sakura nodded, blushing harder. "Then you should tell him," She continued, "I'm sure he misses you too, maybe you're both ready to put the awkwardness of the situation at rest and then start afresh."

Sakura thought over this for a while, it made sense to try and start anew with Li, they had gone through a lot together when they were younger, and his friendship was important to her. However a sinking feeling returned when she remembered, "It was so uncomfortable when we talked again, after all that time."

She still felt tremendously guilty about that meeting up till this day, when Li had arrived to Tomeda High, Sakura raced through the corridors to find him. She hugged him and was so happy to see him again that she poured out her heart about how she had missed him, how she felt awful about the silly fights about keeping in touch and how she really wanted to be friends again. However unnoticed by her and Li, Sakura's friend Kou Aida, who had come to Tomeda High from a different feeder school, was standing behind them and was watching the reuniting with distaste. From that day he had acted rudely towards Li and Sakura couldn't explain it. Whenever they tried to rekindle some of their old friendship, Aida would appear with his friends and make things awkward. When Sakura confided in Tomoyo about her confusion, she explained that Aida was probably jealous and felt self conscious about how close she and Li were. The more frequently this happened the more Li would avoid Sakura to keep from being sneered at, and once again Sakura felt Li's friendship escaping through her outstretched fingers.

Tomoyo watched Sakura's face as she relived some of her most painful memories and gave her hand a squeeze, "give it another chance Sakura-chan, I promise it will be better than last time."

Sakura arrived at the penguin park a little ahead of time, she had probably been rushing because she was thinking hard about what too say and hadn't realised how fast her legs were taking her. She perched herself on one of the little penguins that surrounded the King Penguin, she breathed deeply but started when Li spoke up from behind her, "Have you been waiting long?"

She jumped up and bowed slightly, "No, not at all, I've only just got here. How are you?"

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><p><strong>Hey, thank you for reading!<strong>

**So this chapter is focusing on Sakura's day more than Syaoran's (incase it's not painfully obvious, I like Dual Narratives xD)  
>The next chapter will be a rather short one, because it's just Syaoran explaining the situation to Sakura so just a heads up, it's more of an add on to this chapter but focusing more on Syaoran.<br>Also another note, I just chose random names for the extra characters that are shown here, for example Rei and Kou. I hope they don't come across too two-dimentional because I haven't explained their backgrounds or anything, (that might be explained partially in the next few chapters)  
>And also look out for the return of new characters soon! Meiling, Rika and all the old gang will probably be popping up along the way :D<strong>

**EvilKateh**


	4. Chapter 4: A Solution

**Disclaimer: I realllllly want to own CCS, unfortunately I don't so there we go xD**

**A Solution**

Syaoran smiled and gestured for Sakura to walk with him, they were walking along a pretty woodland path, the cherry blossom was falling as the wind blew and the sunlight was being dappled through the leaves. However, despite the beauty of the place he couldn't stop noticing out of the corner of his eye how Sakura seemed to glance at him every few seconds. He looked at her and she started and looked away quickly, blushing. He smiled to himself, he decided to start first, "Kinomoto-san," he began. However he stopped again when he noticed the look on Sakura's face, she was upset and he wondered whether maybe it was time to break the formality between them. He smiled and started again, "Sakura," her face softened almost immediately and he was glad he decided to break the barrier. They were in a quiet private part of the park and he judged it was safe to not be overheard by any passers-by; he stopped walking and turned to face her, she mirrored him. "You know how I feel," she looked down, "and I understand that you can't reciprocate my feelings." He took a deep breath, "But I really need your help."

As he explained the conversation with his Mother and the Li clan's traditions that causing all the trouble now he couldn't help but stare at Sakura the whole time, the way her hair lifted up slightly in the wind, her big green eyes, even the small bows that she used to tie her hair up with nowadays. It had been a long time since he had had a completely one-on-one conversation with her, possibly not since the day he returned to Tomeda, and even then it was cut short. "And so," he concluded, "my mother has decided that I need to find a suitable girl and bring her to visit my family immediately."

Sakura looked horrified, "Do you mean that your mother wants us to get married?"

Syaoran almost laughed, despite the situation the look of dismay on her face was almost comical, "Do you mean that I would be that awful to marry?" He joked mimicking her tone.

Sakura crossed her arms and made the face that she used to make to the 'plush toy' when he ate all her sweets, "Be serious! How can I help you?"

It was his turn to be nervous, "Look, Sakura-chan, you don't have to help me if you feel uncomfortable but I don't know what to do, my mother is really enforcing this. If I don't respond soon I'm worried that she'll move me somewhere else."

She seemed to be thinking hard for a moment, and then seemed to decide something. "We'll pretend."

Syaoran must have looked confused so she continued looking down slightly, "Li-kun, I don't feel that way about you, but I can pretend I do. We can go to your house and we can act like a couple because," she paused and looked him straight in the eye, "I don't want you to leave Syaoran-kun."

Syaoran was taken aback, but then realised this was about the best he could have hoped for, this way they could prove to his mother that he was upholding the Li families traditions, even if it was only pretend. He realised that the silence was going on for a bit long, so he broke it, "Thank you Sakura-chan." He smiled warmly and continued, "You're so helpful,"

Sakura grinned, but then thinking her smile faltered a bit, "You said Clow meant for this to happen, he really must have been as troublesome as Kero-chan said he was!"

Syaoran sighed, "I know. But I guess he always knew what he was doing," he grinned slightly, "although know now we know which part of the family Meiling got her stubbornness from."

Sakura giggled and they stared at each other for a bit, Syaoran was starting to feel a bit hot around the collar and said, "Should I walk you home?"

"Yes please," she replied and then she did something almost extraordinary for Syaoran; she held out her hand. After a seconds hesitation, he took it and they walked home in a comfortable silence. 

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading!<strong>

**An obviously short chapter this time, but don't worry, the next chapters will be longer. This is just almost an add on from the last one!  
>Also yaaay, Sakura and Syaoran are getting a bit close again. Sorry if I'm a bit impatient with them getting to know each other, I am a massive fan of this couple so please tell me if I'm taking the plot too fast!<strong>

**EvilKateh  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5: A Busy Sunday

**A Busy Sunday**

"So you and Li-kun are friends again right?" Tomoyo asked rather excitedly.

Sakura smiled into the mobile, "I guess we are," she giggled, "well, we may not be close friends yet, but we're going to pretend to be."

Sakura had called her best friend almost as soon as she'd got home, or as soon as she could because the first thing she came home to was Kero demanding that she get him the ice cream out of the fridge, which he was currently devouring in great gulps on her desk.

Laying front first on her bed, she rolled herself over so she flumped her head back on the pillows whilst Tomoyo spoke, "I'm so happy for you Sakura-chan! I haven't really mentioned it before but I've really missed being able to speak to the both of you at the same time."

"Yeah I feel the same, I think we really broke down that wall that was creating all the tension today," Sakura replied smiling contentedly, it was getting late and she was starting to feel sleepy, she closed her eyes.

"So what happens now?" Tomoyo asked, "Are you going to Li-kuns house?"

Sakura, under the effects of a long day and a very comfortable pillow, was starting to drift off, she murmured into the phone, only half aware of the conversation, "I said I'd meet up with Li-kun tomorro-"

Sakura had stopped talking so suddenly Tomoyo wondered whether the phone had cut out, "Sakura-chan? Are you still there-?"

However she was interrupted by a large cry of despair and a smacking sound. It sounded rather like Sakura had just slapped her forehead in frustration. "Tomoyo-chan, I forgot!" She wailed, "I'm going shopping Rika and Kou tomorrow!"

"Oh my," Tomoyo said, she sounded just as worried as Sakura felt, "is there not any way you could get around it?"

"I don't know," Sakura moaned fretfully, "I think I can make this work, I'm meeting Li-kun in the evening, so as long as shopping doesn't go on too long it will be fine, I hope."

"Oh Sakura-chan, you're so wonderful that everyone wants to spend their time with you!" Tomoyo smiled.

Sakura blushed and giggled, after that she said good night to Tomoyo and put down the phone. She stretched out on her bed and yawned, it seemed tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

Kou and Rika looked up to the sound of pounding feet on the tarmac, as they looked up Sakura skidded round the corner running at full pelt, "Sorry I'm late!" She called to them as she ran.

They waved her over and once she reached them she bent over breathing hard, "I'm so sorry I'm late; I had to get all these sweets out of the fridge for Kero-cha-" She stopped herself just in time but it seemed neither Kou nor Rika had noticed her mention the guardian of the Clow.

"Not a problem Sakura-chan," Rika replied smiling, "the train won't come for another few minutes anyway."

As Rika went to the machines to sort out the tickets, Kou stayed behind to give Sakura a hug, "How are you today Sakura?"

She smiled warmly, "I'm really well, thank you Kou-kun; I didn't see you much yesterday, how was school?"

Kou started to speak but was interrupted by Rika calling them over, "Aida-kun! Sakura-chan! The train's here!"

"Ok!" Sakura raced off after Rika leaving Kou to follow slowly frowning slightly in her wake.

On the train at various points in the journey Sakura couldn't help noticing that Kou kept doing strange things with his hands, he would randomly make sudden lunging movements with his arm towards her but then seemed to lose confidence and instead grab something near by like a bottle of water of the edge of a seat. She also noticed that his face was rather red, "Kou-kun, are you feeling ok?" He jumped slightly and looked up questioningly, "It's just your face is a little red…"

She peered up into his face, and his face turned a deeper scarlet, "Ah- I- Um- I don't think it's red!" He stuttered.

"Hmm, are you sure? I know there's a cold going around the school at the moment; maybe you shouldn't be coming shopping with us today if you're ill!"

Sakura looked particularly troubled and Kou smiled, "I promise I'm not sick." Kou once again moved his arm and this time he managed to take hold of Sakura's hand and give it a squeeze. She smiled at him and went back to looking out the window.

Rika who had been watching the exchange smiled to herself, it seemed to be clear to everyone but Sakura who Kou had feelings for, "honestly, things never change with you do they Sakura?" She said jokingly.

Sakura looked round and genuinely smiled, "no, although I hope I've changed a little bit since I was younger, I don't think I'm quite so spacey anymore!"

Rika very diplomatically agreed and they soon arrived in the city.

Later on that day whilst Rika was trying on some clothes, Sakura was walking around the shop with Kou pulling out various clothes and asking his opinion, "What do you think of this one?" She asked absentmindedly, producing a t-shirt out of seemingly nowhere.

"It's nice," Kou replied, "hey I have one like this!" He said pointing at a chequered shirt.

Sakura looked at it and grinned easily, "Yeah I remember, it was the one you wore when I first met you right?"

Kou reddened again, "Yeah, I think it might have been."

"You were such a klutz," she said.

He was about to make a disparaging reply about her lack of co-ordination when tossing the baton, but looked up to see she was giggling and poking her tongue out at him. He grinned and stood casually with his hands behind head, "Yeah, I kind of was I guess."

Sakura thought back to that day, it had been a Sunday and she had been out with her friends; walking back home that evening the silence had been disturbed by someone running behind her and then almost rugby tackling her to the floor shouting, "NE-CHAN!"

Kou looked at who he thought was his sister with confusion, he had only seen the back of her head, but he thought she was taller than he was and he thought she had longer hair. As she turned round he realised to his horror that this girl didn't look like his sister at all, rather in fact she seemed to be a girl of high school age who he had too admit was rather cute looking. At the same time Sakura was looking up confused and saw a good looking boy of around 14 who was grinning, however this grin soon turned to a look of utter shock as he saw who he was hugging.

"Um… I'm not sure who you're after, but I don't think I'm your sister." She said laughing slightly.

Kou jumped up, stammering "Oh- Oh no! I'm s- sorry!" He pulled took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

From that day Sakura had begun to see him around her school, and she made friends with him soon after. Since then he had become one of her closest friends who she loved to spend time with and chat with, he was always nice and to be relied on. But for a reason she couldn't figure out, which she had asked Tomoyo about many times, was that he was still very rude to Li-kun.

After that shopping passed by without much incident and all too soon Sakura was standing in front of the Li household's door about to ring the bell. She was very nervous; the Li family had liked her before she remembered. But perhaps they had changed their minds? Perhaps Li-kun, no, Syaoran-kun had forgotten to tell them that she was coming round for dinner? She now wished she'd put on a more formal dress for the occasion, she wasn't sure how to dress and now she didn't feel like she had made enough effort at all. Swallowing her fear, she took all her courage and rung the doorbell, Wei answered and ushered her into their living room before she was sure she was ready. As she walked in however, she was greated by a familiar face, Syaoran was sat down waiting for her, she noticed his body language, he was sat on the edge of the seat looking clearly as nervous as she felt.

"Syaoran-kun, how are you?" She said lightly and he jumped up, she had hoped to relieve some of the tension but instead he seemed even tenser than ever.

"I'm very nervous," he answered honestly, "how has your day been?"

She hesitated, since he'd been honest with her she decided to be truthful with him, "It was nice, I went shopping with Rika and Kou-kun this morning."

His smile seemed to falter a bit at the mention of Kou but then suddenly Wei seemed to be asking them into the dining room.

Sakura's jaw dropped at the site of it, it was beautifully decorated with Chinese style furniture, there were vases of lilies on small tables and paintings on the wall that seemed to leap out of the page. Most of the family were already waiting around the dinner table, there were three spaces left, Syaoran went to stand behind one of the middle chairs and Sakura stood behind the one next to it. They waited mere seconds and then one of the doors slid open and Yelan Li appeared from behind it, she smiled at them all, seated herself and the rest of the family and Sakura followed suit. Yelan and Sakura exchanged pleasantries and casual conversation whilst they were laden with food that Sakura had never seen before. The four sisters and Meiling mostly dominated the conversation and Sakura found it quite comfortable. She liked Syaoran's family and they had always made her welcome, she guessed that most of her nerves from today were mostly based on her not having visited enough out of tension from her and Syaoran's situation.

"You know," Fuutie said, "I'm surprised that you haven't been over more often Sakura-chan, we all love you and I know that Syaoran _definitely_ likes you." She winked and Sakura blushed slightly.

Syaoran looked up and glared at his sister, "Fuutie, please try to be more diplomatic."

She grinned easily and then Meiling decided to take up the mantle, "I agree with Fuutie!"

"Of _course_ you do." Syaoran muttered to his plate, just loud enough for Sakura to hear who then started to giggle into her own.

Unnoticed by either of them, Yelan was watching and flashed a knowing smile at her daughters, Meiling and Wei.

Sheifa winked as well and said, "Sakura you don't have any sisters do you?"

Sakura shook her head, "No, I have onii-chan and dad though! Although I'm sure I would like some, it's probably much more fun having a big family like this!"

She smiled and Sheifa beamed back at her, Syaoran however, grimaced as if to say that sometimes having such a big family can have its downsides.

Soon after that, Syaoran's sisters all seemed to once again have really taken to Sakura, and were planning too meet up one Sunday at the café where they worked.

Deducing that dinner was over, Syaoran was about to get up and maybe invite Sakura upstairs, however before he could manage it he was interrupted by Yelan, "now Sakura, I wonder, has my son has mentioned about his real reason for bringing you here?"

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate it :D<strong>

**Also yaaay new chapter, sorry it's kind of rushed and rubbish :( I didn't really spell check, so please tell me if parts don't make sense.  
>But it's quite a long one I think, so yeah.<br>Hope you enjoyed reading it, and I hope you like Kou's character even a little bit, I hope he's not too 2 dimentional...  
>I totally love Syaoran's family as well, xD They're so cool<strong>

**EvilKateh xxx  
><strong>


	6. Chapter 6: Some More Deceit and Karma

**Some More Deceit and Karma to the Face**

Syaoran turned sharply to face his mother, he wasn't expecting her to start the interrogation so soon, but as usual his mother was all business when it came to the Li clan. His mother hadn't noticed him look round, or if she had, she wasn't indicating it. Instead she was looking expectantly at Sakura, who was in turn looking down at the table embarrassed, Syaoran was about to intervene; his mother seemed to be developing a tendency to pry into people's emotions, especially his. But Sakura looked up and answered, if maybe a little too quickly, "Yes, he told me."

"And you caught all the Clow Cards and can wield their power confidently?" She continued.

"Yeah, we're all good friends now." Sakura answered, smiling slightly at the thought.

"So you are, of course, one of extreme magical talent?" His mother questioned.

Once again Sakura looked down at the table and nodded reddening slightly, "I wouldn't say extreme," he thought he heard her say modestly.

"And I'm sure, as you're aware, Clow Reed often has traditions that he passes down that are," at this she acknowledged Syaoran's presence again, "_unavoidable_?"

At this Sakura nodded her head still examining her placemat. This all seemed a bit serious and a bit too brutal to Syaoran. His mother, after all, knew all of these things already; he didn't know why she needed to ask them again. However, it seemed like she was only warming up because she then asked a question that he wasn't expecting, "and how do you feel about my son?"

Sakura reddened even more than before, she was quickly becoming less responsive than a stone. Syaoran was about to speak up, his mother was still staring at Sakura keenly and Sakura seemed highly uncomfortable. But once again, he was beaten to the post by Sakura, who answered more levelly this time, "I like him a lot, we hadn't been as close as we were for a while but…" she paused; sorting her thoughts, "I'm really glad we're back together and I really want to help him and your family out!" She finished in a rush.

Syaoran was surprised to see his mother's expression soften, she smiled warmly at Sakura and said, "Thank you Sakura, your help would mean a lot to us."

They smiled at each other and seemed to come to some sort of understanding that was beyond Syaoran's knowledge. However, Meiling shouted out, quite ruining the moment, "What? What do you mean 'back together'?"

"She means," Syaoran retorted exasperated, "that we're _together_."

"I know what it means," Meiling said, somewhat annoyed.

"Then why do you need to ask?" Syaoran replied angrily.

"Because I've never even seen you two together at school, I swear that you're always with Yamazaki and Sakura-chan is always with Kou and his friends!" Meiling answered triumphantly.

Syaoran mentally swore in frustration, he forgot that Meiling would have noticed that they weren't close any more, and it looked like she was about to bring down the whole operation. His family was looking curiously at them both but before anyone could make any more comments, Sakura replied for him, "We're keeping it quiet now, things at school can get a bit hectic once a piece of gossip starts," and as if to confirm this fact she took hold of his hand from the table and gave it a squeeze.

Fanren decided to take the next turn in the barrage of questions that seemed to be forming this conversation, "So you two are really together now?" at this point she let out a joyful squeak that hurt Syaoran's ears, "I'm so happy! Syaoran has done nothing but mope around the house since you two stopped hanging out."

This time it was Syaoran's turn to be embarrassed, "Not really," he said examining the woodwork of the table.

Meiling decided to weigh in, once again, "Don't be stupid, that's exactly all you've done for the past few months!" She folded her arms and put on a low tone of voice which he supposed was supposed to be him, "No Meiling, I don't want to practise martial arts with you now, I'm busy pining for Sakura."

All four sisters and Meiling laughed and Syaoran could feel himself going redder, but when Sakura spoke, trying to ignore how stupid he must look with a face the colour of beetroot, he looked up, "Is that true Syaoran-kun? Did you really miss me?"

Syaoran looked away from her eyes and said in a low tone of voice, "Well yeah, I did miss you."

Sakura smiled warmly and said, "Me too, I'm glad we're back together again," once again squeezing his hand.

Syaoran looked at her in the eyes and saw that she was being sincere, he smiled back. However this moment was ruined rather spectacularly by all the girls at the table squealing like children, "That's adorable!" Fuutie shouted.

"I'm getting so emotional," Feimei also yelled actually wiping a tear away.

"It really is a story of true love," Shiefa exclaimed hugging Fanren.

Syaoran decided to speak up over the clamour and save Sakura before his family embarrassed her (or him) more from what had quickly turned into the Spanish inquisition of teenage dating. "It's getting late and we have school in the morning, so unless anyone has any _more_ questions," he glared at his sisters and Meiling, "maybe I should walk Sakura home."

"That's alright!" She said brightly, "I can walk myself home."

"Well at least let me walk you to the door," he said as a compromise.

"Ok," she said and with that she took Syaoran's hand and dragged him to the porch.

They stood there looking at each other awkwardly for a moment, Syaoran was thinking of something to say but was interrupted when Sakura started laughing. "What?" He said, bewildered and a little defensively.

"Don't look around but all your sisters and Meiling-chan are watching us out of the window," she whispered laughing slightly.

Syaoran slightly turned his head to the left and out of the corner of his eye could see five faces pressed up against the glass, he grimaced, "I should have known they'd not leave us alone for five minutes."

"Here," she said, winking, "take my hands into your own and step closer to me."

Syaoran did what he was told, a little disconcerted by being so near to her. "Now," she continued, "pretend to say something romantic and I'll look at the ground shyly and laugh."

This was all a bit overwhelming, "Like what?" He asked keeping his voice low.

That however seemed to do the trick, because Sakura gave a very convincing blush and giggle. "You really are a good actress," he commented, bemused.

Sakura laughed again, but this time it was genuine. Through the glass they heard someone, probably Meiling, shout, "Kiss her you fool!"

Syaoran reddened again but Sakura smiled comfortably, "Maybe not for this outing."

He thought he wholeheartedly agreed but didn't say that, Sakura laughed again and waved at the window faces. He took this as a sign that the acting was over and looked round at his sisters and cousin fully who were now scrambling to hide behind the curtains. He glared at them but once he looked back at Sakura she was already walking away, although she did turn round to wave back at him as well.

Once she'd rounded the corner he went back inside sighing, hands back in his pockets. Meiling the proceeded to storm right up to him shouting, "Syaoran you idiot! Why didn't you kiss her? Hold her? Tell her you want to marry her and have lots of pets and babies?"

"I don't want that!" He exclaimed, holding her at arm's length because she seemed to be trying to get in a lucky hit.

Once she had stopped swinging her arms around he let go and slouched into the living room and sat down on the comfortable sofa. To his mild annoyance, Meiling jumped down next to him and settled herself there as well, "Well~" she said stretching out, "I guess if I had to lose marrying you to anyone I'm happy it's Sakura."

Syaoran rolled his eyes and replied, "Yeah, I guess."

He flicked through the TV channels and decided there was nothing on, at which point Meiling promptly stole the channel changer and switched it too some fashion programme. She seemed to be more interested in it recently, he guessed that it had something to do with the fact she was spending more and more time at Daidoji's house. But since he had no interest in watching he figured he'd go up and get a decent night's sleep for once. He reached the seventh step when he heard one of his sisters dramatically calling his name, "Or maybe not," he sighed and headed back downstairs.

The next morning Syaoran arrived early as usual with Meiling running behind him shouting at him to let her catch up. Once he got into school he did as he always did and found one of the more secluded trees in the front grounds and climbed it; it was a massive wizened old cherry tree and always provided a nice bit of shade and privacy when he needed it. Not today apparently though, Meiling followed him and wailed up at him, "You could have waited for me!"

He frowned down at her, "Don't you have teachers to apologise too for not doing their homework?"

"I did it all this morning" she said triumphantly.

"Yeah and that's obviously why I wasn't waiting for _you, _slowcoach." He fired back.

She glared at him and started to race up the tree, malice in her eyes. However Syaoran was just as agile and climbed just as quick as she did into a place where her arms couldn't reach. She gave up the fight and jumped lightly down to the floor. He thought she was being unusually mature about the matter but then she ruined it by turning around poking her tongue out, "I'll remember this for after school!" she yelled up.

"Yeah, yeah." He shouted back as she waved.

He climbed further back down and got comfortable, retrieved his own homework out of his bag and finished it off before a majority of the students had arrived. He looked up and saw a familiar person arriving with her friend, the blush crept up onto his face and he dropped down as Meiling had done onto the floor. He had been kind of considering saying hello to Sakura after she arrived but as she went inside to put away her skates with Tsuji he guessed she must have missed him, he did however notice Daidoji standing alone and greeted her, "Li-kun! How are you?" she replied warmly, she seemed to have one of her mysterious smiles and he guessed that Sakura had already told her everything that had happened.

"I'm fine thanks, and yourself?" He said, slightly warily.

"I'm well thank you," and then cutting to the chase she exclaimed, "I'm really happy for you and Sakura-chan!"

Syaoran reddened, "Yeah, me too."

Suddenly Meiling appeared and dragged Daidoji by the hand to PE and he followed.

"Today we're playing netball," the teacher announced with a flourish of a ball, "so I'll divide you into four groups and you can play each other as a tournament!"

Syaoran was put into team 1 with Yamazaki as the captain, he was glad about this. As time had gone by Yamazaki had become to be a close friend of Syaoran's, and he had been the one to welcome him into his friend group after he returned from his travels. He also noticed that Sakura had been put into a team with Meiling and Aida, he narrowed his eyes as he saw his cousin swagger up to Sakura and start chatting exuberantly with her, trying to forget whatever embarrassing things she could be telling Sakura, he started the game.

The first game against team 2 went smoothly, he managed to score a point for his team quickly and the team under Yamazaki's leadership seemed to sail to victory. This was the same for the next game against team 4, after beating them the next game was against, as Syaoran realised with a quickening pulse, Sakura's team.

As the teams got ready and into position, Syaoran accidentally caught himself staring at Sakura on the other side of the court, she looked up and seemed to notice him too. He smiled, and after a second she blushed and smiled warmly back. Syaoran's heart felt like it had jumped up to his throat and his stomach felt like it had dropped to his knees, it had been a long time since they had made any kind of contact in school. Suddenly however she looked away focusing on the netball. As she did so Syaoran noticed a little left of the court Aida was looking at him with a fair amount of distaste, he shrugged as the ball was released and ran to get near the net. Syaoran was playing well and had shot a number of goals. However, this changed considerably after passing a particularly fast pass to Yamazaki and running into the D to score, he heard a male voice shout, "Block him!"

At which point Sakura rushed in front of him holding her arms out defending the hoop, Yamazaki threw Syaoran the ball but trying to look good in front of Sakura he did quite the opposite, and accidentally threw with a bit too much gusto. The ball sailed passed the net and hit the side wall. Syaoran didn't think he had ever experienced slow motion before now, but, as the ball rebounded off the court straight back towards him he thought he knew what it was like. It slammed right into his face and knocked him flying backwards on top of Sakura.

He wasn't sure if he'd blacked out for a few seconds or his brain had temporarily gone blank but the next thing he was aware of was laying on something soft and then Yamazaki yelling from the other side of the court, "That was some throw Syaoran!"

He was kept from making a sarcastic reply because from somewhere close behind him he heard a cheerful voice, "Syaoran-kun, I hope you're not hurt but I need to stand up soon."

He looked round as far as his neck would allow and saw with a horrified start that he was lying over Sakura's legs with his head in her lap, she looked down at him with a mischievous smile. "Sakura-chan!" he exclaimed, anguish all over his face, "sorry! I didn't realise what- er, who I was laying on!"

With this he helped her up to her feet and she brushed herself down laughing, the whole class had stopped to stare at the spectacle, and Syaoran could quickly feel himself becoming pretty embarrassed. Whilst this had been happening a few people had approached to help them up, Aida approached Sakura, "Are you alright Sakura-chan?" he gave Syaoran another dirty look.

"Yeah I'm fine," she said brightly, "it seems Syaoran-kun's chest passes haven't lost their force, although I would have hoped his aim might have improved."

Sakura winked at Syaoran and he blushed ever deeper, Aida gave her a quizzical look, "'_Syaoran-kun_'?" he repeated a bit suspiciously.

Syaoran looked quickly over at Sakura and she realised her goof, "Oops! Must have been because of old habits," she laughed convincingly, "sorry, _Li-kun_."

"Don't worry about it, Kinomoto-san," Syaoran said with a shrug.

He thought their pretend indifference was pretty convincing but Aida still seemed too look dubious. After that class ended and once Sakura had wandered off, Aida approached Syaoran, "Look, I'm sure you and Sakura-chan have a bit of history or something, but it's over. So you should stop being some crazy ex and stalking her, it's clearly freaking her out."

Syaoran stared at him for a moment, and resisting the temptation to laugh, put his hands up in defeat, "Yeah, sorry about that. But it's more difficult to ignore the crazy impulses once you're unconscious."

"Right," Aida said, his eyes narrowing, "well, bye."

And with that he walked off with his friends, and Syaoran distinctly heard one of them call him something he could _never_ repeat in front of his mother. Yamazaki, as always, seemed to appear from nowhere, "Hm," he started in his typically trailing way, "forget him, he's probably just jealous or something."

Syaoran privately agreed, although a tiny part of him enjoyed annoying Aida, he dug his hands into his pockets and started walking off the changing rooms. Yamazaki continued, "That was a nice throw though Syaoran, probably your fastest yet, it would have been great if it had gone in the net rather than," he paused chuckling, "rather than smashing into your face like that."

"Right, thanks Takeshi-kun." Syaoran said with sarcasm.

"You know, in hindsight that could have been the source of Aida-san's anger," Yamazaki thought out loud.

"What, my fantastic throwing skills?" Syaoran said rolling his eyes.

"Yes, you know it's all to do with genetics, just like gorillas. In the wild when they sense another male in their territory they seek them out for a contest."

"You mean like a contest of strength?" Syaoran asked, mildly interested now.

"No, well sort of. But instead of having a fight over their territory they have a much more civilised way of settling things," Yamazaki's voice was muffled as he pulled on his t-shirt over his head, "they each find something heavy, a tree or rock for example, but roughly the same weight, and find an area that they can use as a bench mark, a river or a fallen log of some sort."

Syaoran was nodding along, captivated as he tied his shoelace into an unhelpful knot, as a result he had to retie them all over again into more convenient bow. "And of course," Yamazaki continued as they started to make their way out of the changing rooms, "once they've sorted out the area, then they have the competition, the winner is the mighty gorilla who can throw it to the bench mark or closest too it as possible, and their prize is the territory they're competing over!"

Syaoran was amazed, "Wow, I never knew they had such a sophisticated system!"

"Yes," Yamazaki agreed, although he continued gravely, "although of course sometimes there can be terrible accidents similar to what happened today and their throwing items can rebound back onto them with such power that it kills them instantly."

As he said this Chiharu Mihara came into view, it seemed she was waiting for Yamazaki outside her maths lesson, Yamazaki waved energetically at her and finished his tale, "And that's why gorilla activists are so torn over whether to tear down throwing obstacles such as trees or to keep them up to keep the gorillas natural habitat."

Syaoran was fascinated, "But surely if they took away the trees what would the gorillas throw?"

"A fantastic point Syaoran, and…"

But he trailed off at the sight of Mihara's glare, and she finished the sentence for him, "…_and _you shouldn't believe a word of what he's been telling you Li-kun, it's a lie." She explained tiredly.

Yamazaki smiled easily at her and she dragged him by the neck into their maths class leaving Syaoran to stare bemusedly at the spot where he had been a second ago, "It was a lie?"

Hey guys!

Thank you once again for reading, it was a pretty long chapter this time because I've been stuck in my photography exam writing it. Very bored.

Anyway some bits of info, in case you couldn't remember, Kou Aida is a returning character + Sakura and Syaoran are pretending to be seeing each other for his family. Also I decided I wasn't going to have Meiling as a weeping jealous person, I figured I'd have her as the awesome person she is xD I guess now her and Syaoran have a more brotherly-sisterly banter kind of relationship. And a bit of the ol' Yamazaki lying! I love Yamazaki so much xD

Anyway! Thank you so much for reading I hope you enjoyed it!

EvilKateh


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